Do you have what it takes to become a cybersecurity professional? Cyber Summer is your chance to find out if you like the work and will be good at it.

Cyber Summer is nothing like school as you know it. There are no boring lectures and no tests. Instead, you will learn by doing, playing the role of a cybersecurity analyst in realistic scenarios, doing the same tasks that professionals do. Extensive resources are provided to help you learn knowledge and skills as they are relevant to what you are trying to accomplish-no prior technical experience is needed. You will work 100% online for 25 hours per week, but you will not be working alone; you can collaborate with other students, and an expert cybersecurity mentor will always be available to give you help, advice, and feedback on your work.

Cyber Summer is for ages 16 and older.

Investigate Suspicious Behavior

You receive a report that an employee had unusual text on his screen which didn't seem to be work related. The company's security team captured a recording of that employee's network traffic from the time of the report. Your task is to use two traffic analysis tools to determine what the employee was doing. Was his activity benign–or was this evidence of an insider attack?

Investigate Scanning Activity

Another cybersecurity analyst detected extensive scanning activity on the network, and captured a file of the network traffic. Your task is to analyze the traffic, confirm the scanning activity, and profile the network traffic associated with those scans. You will then scan Windows and Linux servers for vulnerabilities—just like an attacker—before they are deployed on the company's network.

Exploit a Website (and fix vulnerabilities)

During your final task, you will learn to think like an attacker. An intelligence agency has intercepted a message between hackers about a vulnerability in a defense contractor's website. You will use the vulnerability explained in the intercepted message to secretly access to the web server yourself, then crack the webmaster's encrypted password, so you can remove any malware on the site and patch the vulnerability that left the system open to attack.

► Check out this video about the course

And in the end, "He never saw Molly again." William Gibson, Neuromancer

Pioneers in online learning

Cyber Summer is offered by the Schank Academy, a subsidiary of Socratic Arts, Inc.. Socratic Arts was awarded a contract from the Department of Defense to develop a six-month, 100% online training course to teach job-ready cybersecurity skills to novices; we are currently delivering a version of this program through university and college partners. We have also developed training to up-skill IT professionals to work as cyber defenders and specialized training for security operations center analysts who monitor the systems and networks of large enterprises.

Socratic Arts was founded by cognitive science visionary Professor Roger Schank based on over 30 years of research demonstrating that students of all ages learn best by doing–by doing authentic work in the context of realistic tasks–and that the best way to teach is via one-on-one mentorship.

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Online, mentored courses

Our courses are entirely online, but they are not like any online courses you have ever seen. You will not be watching boring video lectures and taking tests; you will learn by doing with the help of knowledgeable mentors who are always available to provide meaningful advice and feedback on your work.